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the previous day, there was a space for a wish
list, and on the top I had put a Blue Ringed
Octopus, which Agus found on my second dive
with him. The dive resort IT coordinator, Lillian,
had mentioned to him where she had seen a
solar powered nudibranch and he found that
too on the first dive, very impressive.
First impressions though of diving the house
reef were not good as you have to wade
through a lot of floating rubbish, but once
under the water it was a better experience
even though there still is a fair amount of
plastic laying around, but that applies to many
of the dive sites in Lembeh Straits.
There are three boat dives per day, at
around 08:00, 10:45 and 14:30, dives are
usually a minimum of 60 minutes, I certainly
had none less than that, with my longest dive
recorded at 83 minutes. Generally there is
one guide to four divers, usually I was one of
two photographers in the group, sometimes
I was the only photographer, which was
better for me.
There is coral as well as muck, but it is the muck
diving that draws divers to this area and the
strange critters that inhabit this environment.
Although the nudibranch variety did not meet
my expectations (could have been the time
of year or just my luck!), there were plenty of
other critters around that were a joy to watch
and photograph. Certainly never seen so many
frogfish in any area, although I never managed
to spot the hairy one during my recent trip…
next time.
On my last dive day, my friends and I hired our
own boat and dive guide and split the cost three
ways, which came to around USD58 each, well
worth it in order to dive where we wanted to,
plus get a bit more personal attention.
Certainly another destination on my “return to
list” and although I was paying approximately
$200 per day, this was a bargain considering
that this included my diving (Nitrox), full board
accommodation and a service that some five
star hotels in Dubai would be hard pressed
to match.
70 DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, SEPTEMBER 2013
SEPTEMBER 2013, DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 71